


The Shoe Don't Fit

by Arukou



Series: Tumblr Archive [29]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Gender Dysphoria, Gender or Sex Swap, M/M, Menstruation, Non-con Sex Swap, Stony Bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-19
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-07-25 12:23:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7532611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arukou/pseuds/Arukou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki's shapeshifting magic puts Tony in a skin he wasn't quite expecting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Shoe Don't Fit

**Author's Note:**

> Decidedly inspired by [this fic](http://archiveofourown.org/works/738336) which handles this issue infinitely better than I do, so you should go read that one. It's wonderful.
> 
> Originally posted [here](http://arukou-arukou.tumblr.com/post/131466983931/the-shoe-dont-fit).
> 
> For Stony Bingo prompt "genderswap."

“Tony, please come out. It can’t be that bad.”

“Fuck off and leave me alone.”

Steve stared at the bathroom door and then looked back at Natasha, who hovered in the entry to Tony’s suite. Her face was carefully neutral, but she was abnormally still, like a cat frozen waiting for prey.

“What do I do?” Steve mouthed, but she only pursed her lips and shook her head.

“Tony,” Steve said, turning back to the door, “should I call Pepper?”

“No!”

“Rhodey?”

“God, no! What is wrong with you?”

Steve resisted the urge to bang his head against the door. “You can’t stay in there until we find a cure. It’s going to take a while to find Loki.”

“The hell I can’t. Leave meals at the door. See you when the green bastard rears his sniveling little head. Like a fucking pimple.”

Searching for willpower and patience, Steve pressed his forehead to the doorway, letting the cool wood ground him. “Tony, I love you, but if you don’t come out on the count of three, so help me God, I’ll break this door down.”

There was no answer, and so Steve started counting. “One.” He stepped back from the door and angled his body. “Two.” He dug in his feet. Just as he would have said three, the door swung open and Tony stared out at them, arms crossed over his chest, glowering.

Steve froze, still preparing to rush the door, but thankfully Natasha had more presence of mind. She stalked past him on silent feet and put her hands on Tony’s shoulders, leaning in and whispering in his ear. He listened, eyes fixed on the floor, but eventually nodded.

Natasha stepped back and pointed imperiously at the couch and Tony skulked over, his feet kicking against the carpeting. Steve watched the interaction, eyes wide, mouth gaping. He hadn’t seen the transformation yet, and he wasn’t as good at compartmentalizing as Natasha was. She stopped at his elbow on her way out and looked up at him with razor eyes. “Don’t you dare treat him any differently,” she told him quietly, gripping his elbow and digging her nails in for good measure.

“I would never,” Steve hissed, and huffed as she nodded sharply and disappeared. Left alone, he caught Tony’s eye. Not all that much was different. His nose was the same shape, eyes still huge and liquid. The missing goatee, though. That threw Steve for a loop. Without it, his lips looked fuller and pinker—or maybe that was just the spell.

“You done staring at the freak show?” Tony asked, and Steve jerked, suddenly ashamed.

“I’m sorry. I knew what he did. I just didn’t…picture it. I guess.”

Tony’s expression was sour, and he glared at Steve for only a moment before turning his head. After a moment, he fidgeted and brought up a holo-display, fingers flashing over a diagram of the leg armor. With his arms free, Steve could just see the swell of breasts under the loose T-shirt, and he was knocked sideways again, vertigo making his vision spin. He shook his head though and crossed to the couch, waiting a moment before awkwardly saying, “May I?”

Tony shrugged and said, “Do what you want,” so Steve sat, hands clasped between his knees. Silence as loud and echoing as a Cathedral. Steve fidgeted, and then Tony did the same, his fingers flying. “Fuck Loki,” he hissed finally, and flicked the display away, leaning back against the couch.

Steve hesitated only a moment before putting his hand on Tony’s knee. “We’ll find a way to fix it.”

The lines on Tony’s face deepened and he stared down at Steve’s hand, before looking up again. “It doesn’t bother you?”

Thumbing the soft fabric of Tony’s sweats, Steve considered for a moment. “You don’t look like you. That’s true. But your looks aren’t what I fell in love with. I love you, no matter what skin you’re in.”

“It doesn’t feel right,” Tony murmured, hands jerking abruptly, fingers twisting in the shirt. “It feels…horrible. Like…like shoes that are too tight. Only my entire body. And my god how does any woman put up with…with this,” he said, sweeping his hand down over his stomach.

Just then Natasha swooped back in, laden with two large bags. She thrust the first one into Tony’s hands. “You’re going to need these,” she said. “The instructions are in there, but I’ll be right here if you need help. Go.”

Her voice was so sure and warm that Tony went without protest, without even a second glance. The moment the bathroom door closed, Natasha turned on Steve. “Give him a back massage. It’ll help with the soreness. Have him take two of these,” she brandished a green and black medicine bottle, “whenever it gets to be too much. Heating pad on his lower abdomen. Liberal application of chocolate, ice cream, and whatever movies he wants to watch. Think you can handle that?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Steve said, taking the bag she dangled in front of him.

“I’ve got a golden-horned pain in the ass to catch. Remember. Treat him exactly the same.”

Steve nodded and watched as Natasha disappeared out the doorway. A moment later, Tony emerged, stepping gingerly, his gate slightly awkward. His chest was noticeably flatter, and with his narrow hips, his silhouette was almost the same. “Fuck, this is awful. I’m opening a division to design better menstruation products for women. Jesus Christ. I’m going to rip Loki’s esophagus out.”

“Thor might not like that,” Steve said as Tony settled on the couch again.

“Thor fucking owes me. First his brother trashes my apartment, then he defenestrates me, then he tries to take over the world and now this? I’m entitled to some murder. It’s cosmic law.”

Steve considered him for a moment and then slid onto his knees on the floor. “Lay down on your stomach,” he said, waiting as Tony first looked at him wide-eyed and then slowly shifted.

“Oh my god, fuck breasts,” he said as he settled. “This binder’s helping a little, but this is still. Ugh.”

Without a word, Steve stood and plugged in the heating pad. “Here,” he said, handing it to Tony. “Natasha said to put it against your lower abdomen.”

Tony shoved it between him and the sofa, and then settled. Still on his knees, Steve went to work on Tony’s back, kneading his shoulders where his muscles knotted the worst, and then gradually moving lower, working spine and obliques. Little by little, Tony melted into the sofa.

When he was finally a boneless heap, already half-asleep, Steve stood and grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen. He shook out the pills from the bottle Natasha had given him and gently nudged Tony’s elbow.

Tony took them with a languid hand and swallowed them down while Steve asked JARVIS to put on Star Trek: the Next Generation. He and Tony were mid-way through season three. Steve settled on the floor, his head just a few inches from Tony’s, and made himself comfortable as Picard’s opening monologue rolled.

“Hey,” Tony said, his voice soft in Steve ear. “Thanks for being so…not weird. About this.”

“You’re my Tony,” Steve said, turning slightly to catch Tony’s slitted eye. “I wouldn’t abandon you just because some Norse asshole worked a little magic on you.”

Tony hummed and lolled until he could kiss Steve’s cheek. “You’re the best,” he said, and then closed his eyes. He was asleep in minutes.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](http://arukou-arukou.tumblr.com/) for more fanfiction and general nerdery.


End file.
